Inside Mary-Kate Olsen Engagement

NEWLY engaged MARY-KATE OLSEN is getting not just a husband – she’s gaining a type of father figure, according to relationship experts.

The former “Full House” star’s parents split up when she was just 9, and experts agree that trauma may have influenced the 27-year-old’s decision to wed Frenchman Olivier Sarkozy, the 44-year-old banker she’s been dating since 2012.

“When couples divorce, children most often live with their mothers, so they have an emotional need to find daddy in their lives,” psychotherapist Dr. Jamie Turndorf, aka Dr. Love, told The ENQUIRER.

For Mary-Kate, Sarmkozy “represents a father figure – a man who’s safe and trustworthy and can protect her,” added Dr. Turndorf, author of the best-seller “Kiss Your Fights Good-bye,” who has not treated Olsen.

Such May-December relation­ships between young women and older men have been around for centuries, added another expert. “Young women are attracted to older men because they appear wiser and can offer them protection,” Dr. Gilda Carle, the “30-Second Therapist” on NBC’s “Today” show who also has not treated Mary-Kate, told The ENQUIRER.

As for Mary-Kate, she’s apparently chosen a man “who offers her security and assurance that she is loved for her­self and not her fame or fortune,” said Dr. Carle.

Mary-Kate and twin sister Ashley have par­layed their “Full House” fame into a billion-dollar business empire. Sources say Ashley supports her sister’s marriage to Sarkozy, a divorced father of two and the half brother of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

“He’s definitely a father figure for Mary-Kate,” added an insider. “But Mary-Kate is sure she’s found Mr. Right – despite their age difference."